I live in Siberian part of Russia and study in North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk. I got interested in the topic of how countries of the Northern region can better develop their economy. So I’ve decided to go to Finland to learn more about the differences between Finland and Russia in this field.
At my exchange I have a lot of interesting courses. I learned about taxation in Finland and the way of how companies run their business here. I was very impressed by the fact that Finnish companies do not have as much paper work as the companies in Russia and it is easier to start your own business in Finland than in Russia. This makes me think of my own role in developing the Northern region. I’ve started asking myself the questions: how can I contribute into the developing of my region after coming back? What kind of changes in economy do we need in Yakutia? How can we use our natural resources properly, considering that we have so much of them?
Studying in Finland I can say that Finnish system of education really differs from Russian one. For example, here we have a lot of team assignments and presentations unlike the way I studied in Russia.
Finland itself impressed me a lot. It has beautiful nature, perfect public transport system and nice people. Helsinki is a beautiful city with a unique Nordic culture. Here I also met a lot of interesting people from other countries. I think this is really valuable experience for me because in today’s world it is necessary to think globally and to know that the world is much bigger than we usually believe it is.
I think that UArctic is doing a really important work. Thanks to North2North program I realize that people need to learn how to live with each other, how to communicate with people from different cultures, how to be tolerant to each other and how different experiences from many countries can help solving many problems not only in the North, but in the whole world.
Published in 2015.